Supreme Court forces cooperation among satellite charters, districts

Satellite charter schools serving thousands of students locally and statewide in mini campuses set up in malls and office parks are now scrambling to join the districts that have fought to evict them.

The new spirit of cooperation was forced after the state Supreme Court let stand a ruling that charters cannot populate their county with branch-campuses outside the district that authorized them.

The result has been celebrated as a victory for school districts embroiled in costly litigation with charters that have moved in to serve students and assume the state attendance funds that accompany them.

A blow for charter schools, the high court’s lack of intervention means they face big changes to comply with the law by petitioning districts to take them in, seeking waivers from the state, or closing.

The California Charter Schools Association said it is “deeply disappointed” by the high court. Nevertheless, the advocacy organization has started advising charters on how to comply with the law and “minimize the negative and immediate impact as a result of the uncertainty from the decision on charter school students and families.”

Although a charter could simply close any satellite campuses, which are officially called resource centers, the charter association has recommended “they seek a new charter agreement from the school district where the resource centers are located to avoid having students and families travel longer distances to continue attending the schools.”

Although some charters are in talks to do just that, others are looking to buy time.

The Julian Charter School, where thousands of students are enrolled in resource centers in districts around the county, has applied for a waiver with the State Board of Education that would give it two years to comply with the “current interpretation” of the law, said Executive Director Jennifer Cauzza.

She said immediately shutting down satellite centers would be irresponsible. Additional time is needed, in part, because “our leases have no out clauses — which will be a waste of tax payer dollars.”

The San Diego Unified, Grossmont and Sweetwater Union High School districts have sued the Julian Union Elementary School District and Julian Charter School over the resource centers. The districts have said they are unable ensure academic or financial oversight at the satellite centers they did not authorize.

Julian Union is among several small East County districts that have approved the controversial charter arrangements that generate funds under deals that barely cost them students.

More than 3,000 students attend the Julian and Diego Valley charters authorized by the Julian Union district to operate satellite campuses throughout the county. Julian, which enrolls less than 400 local students within its district, received nearly $800,000 in revenue from the charters in the 2014-15 year, when its total revenue was $6.2 million.

San Diego Unified’s chief attorney Andra Donovan said the high court’s lack of intervention “effectively ends the practice of private corporate operators using public dollars to buy authorization from small, cash strapped districts for the purpose of operating with minimal oversight and no transparency.”

“It restores local control over education and ensures that only quality charters which are truly accountable to the public will continue to exist,” Donovan said.

Without comment, the California Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a petition for review filed by a Northern California charter. That means the October 17 decision by the 3rd District Court of Appeal stands.

The appellate ruling overturned a lower court decision in a lawsuit filed by the Anderson Union High School District near Redding claiming a charter illegally opened a satellite campus in its jurisdiction.

The court case at hand involves non-classroom-based charters, which offer a hybrid education that typically combines independent-study with classroom instruction. Students use satellite campuses to check in with tutors, take tests and participate in instruction at varying rates of frequency — weekly or several times a week.

In 2008, 72,459 California students attended such non-classroom based charters, a figure that nearly doubled to 141,752 last year. Some 40,000 students in California are estimated to be attending satellite charters affected by the lawsuit.

Scott Patterson, deputy superintendent of business services for the Grossmont district, called the high court’s denial gratifying.

“We hope this puts to rest the issue facing districts like GUHSD right now of charters operating within our boundaries without authority,” Patterson said.

But Cauzza said she hopes the courts will rule in Julian Charter’s favor in the lawsuit filed by San Diego Unified and Grossmont — based on the merits and not the Northern California appellate ruling.

Large charter networks have other options when it comes to complying with the law.

Charter organizations with schools in multiple counties could redistribute management of their campuses because charters are allowed to operate satellite centers in adjacent counties under the law. The San Diego-based Altus Institute operates several charters — including Audeo, Audeo II, and the Charter School of San Diego — and their resource centers in several counties.

New legislation could change the law and allow charters to continue the practice of operating resource centers outside their authorizing districts within their county.

Charters are publicly funded schools that are independently operated and free of state and local education rules in exchange for a promise to raise student achievement with innovative means.

As the California Charter School Act turns 25 this year , the independent campuses have become increasing popular with families who want flexibility and an alternative to a traditional education.

About 20 percent of San Diego Unified students have transferred to charters, with the district projecting that figure to hit 30 percent in a decade — largely due to growth of independent-study charters.

To compete, San Diego Unified and other districts have expanded online programs that make use of technology and online classes.

San Diego has served as a hot bed of charter growth among non-classroom based charters, eliciting turf wars with districts.

Steve Van Zant was convicted of a felony violation of the Political Reform Act last year for abusing his position as superintendent of the Mountain Empire Union School District.

Under his leadership, Mountain Empire approved 13 charters (all but one were non-classroom-based) to operate in other districts between 2008 and 2013, with some of them going on to hire his EdHive charter consulting business. In addition, he personally received stipends equivalent to 5 percent of the district’s charter revenue under his employment contract negotiated with the school board.